Remember when some and many others falsely said they and the others were not guilty at the Montreal City Hall

“ Michel Lalonde, the head of a prominent Montreal engineering firm, testifies at the Charbonneau Commission that Robert Abdallah, The head of Montreal’s executive committee, the director of its public works department, the man in charge of financing the city’s most powerful political party – and now the former city manager was involved in a system of collusion that allowed select companies to win municipal public works contracts in exchange for major cash donations and illegal kickbacks.

Michel Lalonde, he also confirmed that he handed a cheque for $10,000 to Union Montreal political staffer Martin Dumont at a fundraising breakfast in 2004. The event was held in support of the “yes” campaign during the city’s 2004 demerger referendum, and then-Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay was in attendance, Lalonde said. During his own time on the stand, Dumont maintained that he was given similar cheques from a number of engineering firms at the breakfast.

The engineer Michel Lalonde, said his company gave thousands of dollars in illegal cash kickbacks to officials in Ahuntsic, Saint Leonard, Rivière des Prairies and Montreal North, among others.

At one point, Lalonde said, Ahuntsic borough manager Éric Lachapelle asked him for Montreal Canadiens season tickets – a request he quickly granted.

The cash donations always flowed more freely when Montreal was on the verge of a municipal election, Lalonde testified. In the months prior to the 2005 municipal race, for instance, he said RDP mayor Cosmo Maciocia asked him for $60,000 to support his campaign. Lalonde claimed he handed it over, as did several other firms.”